Camping

We had our annual Memorial Day camp out with our church from May 24-27. The weather this year was almost perfect. There was rain and storms overnight the first night, but after that, warm and sunny. The only issue was that I forgot to stake down our screen tent and it blew over during the storms the first night. But, since nothing was in it at the time, nothing was damaged.

We took our bikes along this year and went for a ride around the camp ground. The views of Green Lake were beautiful.

Of course, the best part of any camping trip is spending time with friends and family. We always have a good time.

The weekend ends every year with a talent/no talent show and then a kick ball game with kids vs adults. It’s one of our favorite weekends every year.

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Day 182: On today’s bike ride we rode up the ledge. I didn’t make it all the way up, but at least I got part of the way

Day 183: There’s a storm north of us, over the lake

Day 184: More sunset

Day 185: These guys got haircuts today. They were way past due for one. I think Blizzard looks a little annoyed about it

Day 186: A very pink sunset

Day 187: Nala and Blizzard bonding time

Day 188: All set up for our weekend camping trip. This is our annual trip with our church at Green Lake

Day 189: Green Lake

Day 190: Sydney and Janelle relaxing at the campsite

Day 191: Greg didn’t go camping with us, but he was busy while we were gone. He cleaned out half of the garage

Day 192: We borrowed our neighbor’s bike rack to take our bikes along on vacation. We did a trial run, to make sure it worked and we knew what we were doing

Day 193: Sometimes our bike rides involve a stop at the grocery store to pick up something we need

Day 194: Roland usually bikes faster than I do, so this is my normal view of him. Someday I will be able to keep up with him

Day 195: On the road to getting in shape. These leggings are a size M. I still see bulges where I don’t want them, but the bulges must be getting smaller because my clothes size is going down

Day 196: Our weekend fun included going to a local baseball game. After the game, the kids got to run the bases. The last runner was a very small girl and all the players got down to her level to give her a high 5 as she crossed home plate

Day 197: More weekend fun, this time a hike. The path was quite muddy, even covered with water in some areas

Day 198: She is such a naughty puppy sometimes. She will climb just about anywhere to get food

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During our annual fall camping trip (September, 2018–yes, I am behind in posting about our camping adventures), we went to Door County, WI. One of the highlights of the weekend was our stop at Cave Point County Park. It’s a small park, but full of beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the shoreline.

The girls had so much fun climbing the cliffs to the water

This cave is called the Devil’s Bathtub. There were a couple of people jumping and swimming in here. The water was fairly cold, since the lake never gets warm

This bird was sunning himself on the rocks. He sat there with his wings spread out for the longest time before taking off.

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Day 301: The first stop on our camping trip was to Cave Point County Park. Lake Michigan crashes into the shore causing caves to form all along the rocks. This one is called the Devil’s Bathtub.

Day 302: We camped in Peninsula State Park and went for a hike on Eagle Trail. In some areas, the trail was almost impossible to find. In others, it was slippery from the waves crashing on shore. The scenery was beautiful.

Day 303: I first came to Door County 25 years ago and have been back several times since then. This was the first time I’ve seen the goats on the roof of Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant.

Day 304: Right before we left, we had a slight mishap with one of our cars.

Day 305: Home again, this is the view while taking Nala for a walk

Day 306: Sometimes, I crave weird things, like Easy Cheese. It’s not really cheese and has no nutrition, but it tasted good for some reason.

Day 307: Another walk for Nala. She tends to take me for a walk, instead of the other way aorund

Day 308: The spot in the trail is a deer that walked along in front of us as we were on our nightly walk

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My last post from this vacation, I promise. Our last night was spent at the Brown County/Nashville KOA in Indiana. It was a last minute choice; we decided to stay here only a day or two before we left the Smokies and was the only night we didn’t have reserved before we left home. We had never stayed at a KOA before and I was pleasantly surprised by this one. The tent sites were fairly close together, but we didn’t have any neighbors, so it was like being alone. The RV sites looked like they were somewhat crowded. We got there late, so we didn’t get to use the pool. The bathrooms were really clean and updated. You could tell the current owners were trying to update the whole place; there was evidence of recent work being done around the campsites. It turned out to be a good choice for a night, about an hour south of Indianapolis.

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Our four nights in Gatlinburg were spent at the Greenbrier Campground. It was right outside the Smoky Mountain National Park and only a short drive to Gatlinburg. This campground was amazing. It has it’s own private swimming hole in the Little Pigeon River. Our tent site had electric and water and wasn’t too close to our neighbors. This campground had the best bathrooms I have seen in a campground. Seriously, they were as nice as a hotel and were kept clean. I saw people cleaning them several times a day. There is also a large yard area set up for all kinds of fun and games–basketball, volleyball, pool table and ping pong (you could check equipment out in the office). All this plus a large pavilion with a fire pit and a shelter with several gas grills. I will be back at this campground the next time we go to the Smokies.

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We spent the first day driving. We made it to Kentucky, Moutardier Campground, to be exact. Our first official vacation activity was going to Mammoth Cave National Park, which was about a 30 mile drive from the campground. While waiting for our cave tour, we did a little hiking around the park, and we had some amazing views of Kentucky.

We did the Frozen Niagara Tour, which is one of the shorter tours available. We weren’t disappointed, however. The cave is beautiful. There were so many stalactites and stalagmites and interesting formations. Our tour guide was hilarious. Or, that could just be me because I have the same dumb sense of humor.

From the cave, we drove to Nashville. We spent a little time driving around, looking at the city. We had thought about going to check out the Opryland Hotel, but didn’t feel like paying $28 to park. We went to Long Hunter State Park, to walk around their arboretum, but due to the heat, didn’t see the whole thing. We did see this deer, however, before heading to our campground.